Third Life

Third time's a charm.

The adventurers find themselves handcuffed in a makeshift cell in an old farm shed.

Arwyn seems distant and Mika is agitated and trying to get out of her bonds while Moric patiently waited.

A few hours later they were taken under armed guard to see The Commander. They were lead to a large tent where they were met by a man in a traditional military uniform. He was clearly Commander Arkon.

Arwyn has a letter from the Queen that she uses as a reason for them to be released from their bonds.

As Arkon reads it another man entered the tent causing Arwyn to immediately tense and cast her gaze to the ground. “You” the man said. “Guards. Detain her immediately.”

Everyone drew weapons including Arwyn and Mika. The Commander orders everyone to stand down, but Awryn still has a white knuckled grip on her weapon.

Captian Donnavan, the man who ordered for Arwyn’s arrest, explains that she is an escaped prisoner.

Commander Arkon and Morcic explain the situation to Donnavan who is skeptical. "A far as I’m concerned, this enemy of the state has conned all of you. She mustn’t be allowed free reign, she is an escaped prisoner.”

The commander inhales deeply as he collects his thoughts before regarding Arwyn, “Even if I were inclined to believe you, the captain is right, you cannot be allowed access to any information. Until we can know for sure that what this letter claims is true, you must be taken to a secure holding cell.”

Arwyn’s gaze shot up from the floor in a panic to catch the captain smirking with delight. “Men” he said as he began to advanced upon her. She immediately drew her weapon and retreated to the wall of the tent. “Do not touch me.” she said, voice dripping with hate. The room again was a standoff.

“Now, now. Settle Down. For someone who claims innocence you are quick to threaten my men’s lives," said the Captain as he to a step forward.

He and the other men advanced upon her and within a blink of an eye she dodged his grasp and had her sword at his throat and a dagger on his eye.

“Perhaps I should return the favor you gave me…” Arwyn said quietly in his ear as she slowly drug the knife down his face, leaving a thin red line.

Commander Arkon spoke up and regained control of the situation, “Listen. I give you my word that no ill will befall you if this is true. I will have my personal guards take you to my quarters. No cell.”

Arwyn contemplated this for a moment before adding, “And no one is to lay a hand on me.”

“Agreed."

As she is escorted from the room she trembles.

Captain Donovan stands, obviously embraced and angry.

After more talk it is agreed that the adventurers will return to Nosara and inform the Queen that they would like to form an alliance. He will send a band of his most trusted men to deliver the message. They were to be off in the morning.

As Morcic goes to settle in for the night, he felt the world slipping and falling into darkness. Mika and Arwyn rush to his aid. No ammount of coaxing seems to rouse him.

Just as Mika was about to run for help, without reason, Morcic woke. He insisted he was fine, but something was obviously on his mind.

The next morning, Morcic parted ways with his old companion Mika and the others. Alone, he set out for the Dwarven Kingdom of Mordehn is search of his path.

On the way to Nosara, Mika and Morcic realize they have no idea who the letter is for. Mika figures since Natira was a royal spy then the letter must be for the Queen.

Outside of Nosara they are attacked by a group of cloaked Drow. Their leader holds them in a magical choking death grip where they were unable to move. Eventually Mika broke free and they manage to kill everyone but the leader, who escapes.

When they got into the city no one wanted to admit them into the castle. Naturally, they decide to break in that night. Once inside, they realize they have no idea who the Queen is so they make their way through a small library to do some research.

The Queen is Lilith II. She was named after her Grandmother, Lilith the Beautiful. They cannot find out anything more useful and press on anyway.

Eventually they make it an older women’s chamber, and assuming the armed guard outside her room means she’s the queen, gives her the letter. She tells them to return in the morning.

The older women they thought to be the Queen is actually an advisor, her name is Sariah. The queen is very young Drow, barely older than a teen.

Queen Lilith explains that she has been trying to handle the situation in Daemon by feigning ignorance while using spies to figure out what is happening. The meeting is interrupted by a women who bursts into the room looking beaten, warn down, and wearing a shoddy makeshift eye patch. The Drow explains that her and her group made it out of Daemon, but were taken prisoner by the Kings Steal Army outside of Wellston. Riddin appears to be preparing for a war.

The Men of Steel didn’t believe the Drow that their Kingdom is already under attack from some rebels and kept them prisoner instead. She managed to escape and make it back here, but the rest of her group didn’t survive imprisonment. She tells the Queen that they must prepare for a battle or face losing thousands of innocent lives.

The Drow’s name is Arwyn Draveneth. She accompanies on a mission to send word to the general about the truth of the situation. Arwyn shows you the safest route out of the kingdom.

They get to the King’s Steel Army encampment and are immediately taken prisoner. Morcic tells the guard they are on a mission and must speak with the Commander about the Spider Quest.

They set out for Romero, no longer bothering with secrecy, and taking the open road. Despite having seen the effects of springs awakening before they left, Daemon seems to be in a perpetual state of gloom. A storm appears to be brewing, but no rain ever falls. Just harsh winds and cold nights.

As the grey skies darken and night draws near, they find themselves at the edges of Romero city. A great wall fashioned out of dark black trees with pointed tops surrounds the heart of the city. It appears to be the remnant of an old fort. The architecture if very Elven, though with the color schemes of deep near black woods accented with stark white birch trees whose wood accents their structures and populate the foliage within the walls. It is the direct reflection of the people of Romero City. They only see a few other races scattered about the streets. Mostly a mix of elves and humans.

Despite the dark architecture and deep purple banners with Daemon’s crest around the city, it keeps a very open feel. There is no dark foreboding, cave like sense that someone might assume they would find in a city of the creatures of the Underdark.

Mika sees a lot of influence familiar to her from her time spent in the home tribes of the Eastern Wood Elves. Many of the houses are built around the trees that still stand a hundred feet tall. For an unexplainable reason, Morcic feels oddly at ease. Both reminded of home in their own separate way.

Once there, they begin to investigate. People from out of the Kingdom have gone silent. There are rumors of turmoil in the neighboring kingdom. Perhaps it is similar to a few hundred years ago when Ridden closed off it’s borders?

Trade has stopped from out of Kingdom. Again, it is attributed to a potential civil war in Ridden.

When pressed about it further people shut them out. No one seems to know or want to talk about any of it. A few tell them to shut up. To drop it.

In a club they are confronted by a Drow, Natira; a Royal spy for the Queen of Daemon. She tells them of a rebel uprising. They have plants everywhere feeding misinformation. Their motives are unclear.

She tells Mika and Morcic, for their own safety, they need to leave town.

The next morning they decide they have enough information to return to Riddin. As they open the door to leave their inn, someone smashes into they. A tall Drow male with blood spattered across his face helps the women up who had run into they. It’s Natira. She gestures and the man ushers they into a nearby ally. Natira quickly follows. One hand clutches the front of the front of her silky white blouse, now dark with blood. The other pulls out an envelope and holds it out to Mika.

“Quickly, take this.” Her voice is dangerously quiet.

The man glances down the street, eyes wide. “We were ambushed. We were the only ones to make it…” He turns back to them with fervor. “But that doesn’t matter. Get this to Nosara now.”

His focus shifts to Natira as he helps her to a wall and begins to wrap his waistcoat around her wound. Gravely he tells they, “Everyone is dead. If any here in Ramero have made it out like us, their identities are compromised.”

Days were spent crashing through the woods, hot on the heels of some unknown group. It hadn’t been determined whether they were friend or foe, that is until they found their camp. Men lay bloodied and rotting around a small camp. Apparently the adventurers weren’t the only ones following the group.

They discover that these poor souls were in fact allies. Upon removing one of their gloves they see the mark of the Men of Steel. It appears that Willis’ men will never get to the answers they were seeking.

Moving on from the grim sight you continued to delve further into the wood; now catching on the trail of another group. It is another two days before they catch up to the assassins. Drow. Six of them.

They have set up camp for the night by the river. From the bluff above you could see the main road on the other side. This is the closest you have been to it in weeks. They decide surprise is their best bet.

Taking out two of the lookouts first they had evened the odds, but the third lookout was alerted. A battle ensues that appears to be in Morcic and Mica’s favor; that is until three more appear from within tents. Morcic is overcome, but Yale and Mica fiercely protect him. They take out the rest and spare the last for questioning.

When Morcic recovers they begin to look for answers. The Drown is near useless. They kill her. Luckily, the camp holds more clues. They find that the Drow are working for someone with the initials M.N.

There is a small stone described in the note that is determined to be the same found on one of the Drow. Somehow it allows the Men of Steal to be located by scrying for the ceremonial mark of loyalty all Men of Steel have branded into their hands. Mica pockets it for safe keeping.

The Drow also have orders to patrol the border roads and to kill anyone going in or out of Daemon. The group that they have killed seems to have been a marauding troupe out to get any of the King’s Steal Army trying to sneak into the kingdom. There are three more designated on a small map of Daemon.

With this information Morcic and Mica choose to push onward to Remaro City. They must have more answers before returning to General Willis.

Just as all other good adventures begin, you were in a pub. It was nothing special, pretty much like every other pub in an inn that you find in any old town on the outskirts of the kingdom. Lights flickered as a gust of wind sweet through the room when a tall cloaked figure entered the building, a great grey goat trailing behind. No one seemed to take notice of the creature aside from the plump barmaid who stooped down to scratch his scruffy face. The tall figure procured a drink and sat in an old beaten up corner booth.

When the women ended her attention of the goat, it plod over towards its master. A lone elven women for the first time took notice of the goat as it curled up beneath the feet of the man in the booth directly behind her. She took a sip of her steaming drink and gazed out the window silently watching the world outside.

People bustled about in the street eager to begin work after the long winter. Still, the children cling to the last bits of winter bliss as they hurled dirty slushy snowballs at one another. There was a sharp cry in the distance, one of them must have been hit.

Across the street the small market-though you might just call it a few farmers pedaling wares out of the back of their carts-the market was gathering a decent crowd and the noise of the town seemed to get louder. It was the first time that year anyone had gathered in the square to do business. There was young girl eagerly filling a basket full of the first of the years apples. They were small and perhaps not quite ripe, but she was ecstatic none the less. Others around her seemed to be taking notice of something down the street. She was too caught up in polishing the tiny fruit to care. There was the sharp cry again, perhaps it was a baby and not a jubilant child.

Then-chaos.

There was a loud smash as glass flew into both of your eyes. Before there was time to react the pub had burst into a fierce fire. A patron flailed wildly on fire as the everyone looked on in horror not knowing what to do.

After the moment of stun passed, everyone began to rush about. The barman put to patron out, the maid attempting to douse the fire, and Mica pulled others from the building.

“Is there anyone upstairs?” Morcic asked. The barman gravely regarded him before leaving to save his own life. Morcic took a moment and did the same.

As he threw open the door the young women with the basket was running for the door when an arrow burst out through her chest. She fell to the ground and the basket hurled down with her; the precious, delicately polished apples scattered about, a few rolled lazily up to your feet. There was chaos in the street.

Mica sprang out across the street and up onto the roofs to take out invading archers and Morcic steps into the street to take shots at enemy’s on the ground.

A fierce battle ensues and upon killing a Drow warlock the rest of the Drow invaders flee. Thanks to your action many lives were spared, but over half of the small town was lost to fire.

A heavy calm settles over the town. A general congratulated you on your efforts. He is General Micheal Willis of The King’s Steel Army. He and a small band of the Men of Steel have been on a mission to asses weakness in border towns while trying to gather any information they can on the Drow invaders.

At first it was thought to be a small group of bandits, but the rising number of attacks have lead them to believe that the Drown Nation of Daemon is pushing for war.

None of the other Kingdoms have officially declared war as it was thought to be bandits. But after the last 4 months of these raids the Kingdom of Patton has recently begun deploying military to the borders.

General Willis asks you if you are willing to go on a quest for your Kingdom. He needed you to infiltrate Daemon and get answers. Report back to general Willis who will be with the rest of the military west of Wellston. He told you to ask the local commanding officer to speak with Hammond about the spider project.

You sensed that there was more and upon pressing him you learn he has been recruiting other groups for his quest. He cannot risk any more of his men. He has so little left in his small group. Additionally, no one has actually come in or out of Daemon since the attacks have begun. Chances were that the roads were guarded. He has no idea why he wouldn’t have heard from his troops. They did not take the main road.

On the way past the farm where Morcic has been living, they noticed the sheep were scattered everywhere. Morcic spots John Cavel slumped over on on the side of the road.

In his dieing breaths he tells Morcic it was the group of fleeing invaders. As he was rounding up a lost goat at the road they shot him.

He left the farm to Morcic. His boy wouldn’t want it. “Let my neighbor take to sheep. But the house is yours.”

He dies.

After taking care of business they set out on their quest into Daemon.